An objective of putting forward network function virtualization (NFV) is to implement some network functions in a universal high-performance server, switch, and memory by employing a virtualization technology in information technologies, which requires that the network functions be implemented in a software manner, run on universal server hardware, and be migrated, instantiated, and deployed at different locations of a network as required, and does not require installation of a new device. In a schematic diagram of a comparison between a typical network application manner and a network function virtualization NFV manner shown in FIG. 1, various types of network devices, such as a server, a router, a storage device, for example, a content delivery network (CDN), and a switch, may all implement separation between software and hardware by using a network function virtualization technology, and may be deployed in a data center, a network node, or a home of a user.
In an architectural diagram of an NFV system shown in FIG. 2, one NFV system includes multiple nodes, such as a virtualized network function (VNF), an element management system (EMS), NFV infrastructure (NFVI), a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM), an NFV orchestrator (NFVO), a VNF manager (VNFM), a service, VNF and infrastructure description apparatus, an operation support system (OSS)/business support system (BSS), and interfaces between nodes, such as an interface Vn-Nf between the VNF and the NFVI, an interface VI-Ha between a virtualization layer and a hardware resource, an interface Or-Vnfm between the Orchestrator and the VNF Manager, an interface Vi-Vnfm between the VIM and the VNFM, an interface Or-Vi between the NFVO and the VIM, an interface Nf-Vi between the NFVI and the VIM, an interface Os-Ma between the OSS/BSS and the NFVO, an interface Ve-Vnfm between the VNF/EMS and the VNFM, and an interface Se-Ma between the service, VNF and infrastructure description apparatus and the NFVO.
When the nodes are running, a fault may be generated, and some nodes need to notify the fault to some other nodes. Two NFV fault notification mechanisms are discussed currently. A first mechanism is that when a fault occurs on NFVI, the fault is directly published to a VNF. A second mechanism is that when a fault occurs on NFVI, the fault is notified to a VNFM by using a VIM, and is then notified to a VNF by using the VNFM. However, in a complex environment of the NFV system, node levels are numerous, and a fault may occur on any level of a VNF. According to the first mechanism provided in the prior art, it is relatively difficult to implement cross-level publishing of fault information; according to the second mechanism, the fault is notified to the VNFM by using the VIM, and is then notified to the VNF by using the VNFM, and a relatively large delay is caused by performing publishing level by level.
To sum up, in a complex architecture of the NFV system, how to implement real-time and quick location and notification of node fault information is a problem that needs to be resolved currently and urgently.